As a reader of Dame AC for 76 years I always found HP difficult. For me, Suchet's triumph - genius - is in constructing a reality from an impossibility. As for Curtain, it is no surprise that the author delayed publication for 30 years, almost until after her death. Poirot and Hastings have aged beyond recognition and several devices in the novel would appear to be stolen from other stories except that it is actually the other way round. Chandler would probably have called it a reverse cannibalization. The author appears to have taken a strong dislike for her creation and takes her revenge not only on him but on Hastings too who is treated with contempt by both the detective and the daughter. I suspected what my impression would be and should have avoided seeing the production but my curiosity as to how Alice Orr-Ewing would portray Judith was too strong. Curiosity killed the cat.
Review of Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
